Page 36 of Lady Killer

I wanted justice.

And I wanted to live.

Reaching forward, I wrapped my hand in his, and he gently pulled me to stand.

As I dusted the leaves and debris of the forest floor from my legs, Alister inspected me. “You need better running clothes.”

I rolled my eyes, as I bent over and scooped up the broken remnants of my phone. “Oh really, I hadn’t noticed.”

His brow furrowed.

“This,” I said, gesturing up and down, “is the best I could do with what I had.” Turning to inspect the back of my pants, I muttered under my breath, “Especially now that I need to buy a new phone.”

Alister’s hand was on my shoulder, turning me to face him. “We’ll get you a new one,” he said, brow still creased.

“It’s a phone,” I argued.

“It’s . . . a phone?” His voice was absent of both judgment andunderstanding.

“They’re expensive,” I began to explain, my mind suddenly going through the calculations needed to readjust my budget. “And I hadn’t planned for this, and it’s my phone.”

“We’ll get you a new one,” he repeated. Gloved hands wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into the warm panes of his body.

I stiffened, not ready to give in, before a sharpness in my spine had me taking a breath. “You can’t just buy me a new phone.”

“I can.”

“That’s not—‍”

“Do you really suppose I would let you run around campus without a phone for even a second? That Everest would?”

“I—That’s not the point!” Placing my hands on his chest, I stared down my nose at him as best I could from nearly a foot below. “I don’t need your charity.”

“And I don’t do charity.” His hand slid down my shoulders and past my waist to cup my butt, pulling me flush to him once more. “I do, however, protect what’s mine.”

I opened my mouth to argue with him, but whatever fight I had left in me seemed to burn away in the heat of his embrace. “I’m no one’s,” I managed to say, my last stand.

It sounded weak and hollow even to me.

His lips met my neck just below my ear. “If that’s true . . .” He feathered his words like kisses against the sensitive skin there as he wrapped a hand around my ponytail, then tugged my head up to face him. “Why do you taste like mine?”

His lips descended on me without mercy.

Digging my fingernails into his chest, I gave in entirely and opened my mouth to accept him. His tongue danced with mine, and I remembered just how easy it was to lose myself in Alister Blackwell.

Every inch of me had ached since he’d brought me to the edge, only to deny me.

SNAP.

Lost as we both were in the moment, the sound of a twig breaking had us pulling away from each other as fast as we could, with Alister stepping in front of me to face the direction it had come from while I spun to face behind us.

My heart raced, and I swallowed as I looked around to find a still-empty forest.

Turning around, Alister was staring eagle-eyed toward the main trail, but there was nothing to see.

That didn’t mean there was nothing out there.

After another minute, Alister seemed to come to a decision. “Come on.” He jerked his head.

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